Surveying Education In The Nineties Something Old And Something New

Abstract

At Pennsylvania College of Technology, an affiliate of The Pennsylvania State University, we believe in current technical education with an emphasis on practical applications. Our portfolio of programs includes Civil Engineering Technology (CT) and Surveying Technology degrees and a new four year Civil Engineering Technology degree (BCT). The Civil Engineering Technology (CT) and Surveying Technology (SU) Associate degrees are ABET accredited.

We recently received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Curriculum (ILI) grant. The major thrust of implementation reflects the revolution caused by technology in civil engineering and survey. We give each student not only the theory but also actual experience with the projects and equipment that are the "bread and butter" of civil engineering practice. Laboratories in cartography, photogrammetry, surveying and civil engineering are designed to integrate experiences in this new technology.

In the area of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), the merger of information from different sources, often in different formats, is the norm in civil engineering technology practice, using GIS-based systems. We must recognize and keep up with this trend. We purchased the Modular Geographic Information System (GIS) Environment (MGE) system from the Intergraph Corporation, which we feel best suits our educational needs.

This presents course designers with the requirement to balance education in the basics with training in the most modern applications. As a project in the second semester, we construct a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) and a map, produced at engineering scale (about 1 inch equals 35 feet with half foot contours) for an area of four acres controlled by traverse stations, also observed and reduced by students. The technique used is a modification of the old standby, stadia mapping. This paper discusses the application of GIS technology to that exercise.

Introduction At Pennsylvania College of Technology, an affiliate of The Pennsylvania State University, we believe in current, applications-intensive technical education. Our portfolio of technical programs includes a two-year Civil Engineering Technology (CT) Program, with an emphasis in surveying, a two-year Surveying Technology degree and a new four year Civil Engineering Technology degree. We feel that in our programs we